Joe Gentz sentencing moved up to Tuesday

By Macomb Daily staff

Friday, February 15, 2013

The sentencing of Joe Gentz has been moved up to next Tuesday after it had been pushed back to March 1, according to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Gentz, 49, formerly of Macomb County, in December pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit for the January 2012 strangulation of Jane Bashara, 56, in her Grosse Pointe home.

Gentz pleaded and promised to testify truthfully in the case against Bob Bashara, 55, who was named as a person of interest in his wife’s death, in exchange for a sentence of 17 to 28 years in prison and dismissal of the conspiracy charge.

Bob Bashara last year admitted he tried to hire someone to kill Gentz last June while Gentz was housed in a county jail in Hamatramck. Bashara pleaded to solicitation of murder and was sentenced in December to 80 months to 20 years.

Legal experts and Bashara’s former defense attorney has said they expect Bashara to be charged for his wife’s murder.

Rescheduling a sentencing date to an earlier date is rare. Gentz’s defense attorney, Susan Reed, said Thursday she did not request the change and that the move has no effect on the outcome since, “It’s all set,” she said of the plea deal.

Worthy’s spokeswoman, Maria Miller, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Jane Bashara’s body was found Jan. 25, 2012, in her SUV parked in an east-side Detroit alley. Gentz, Bob Bashara’s former handyman, reportedly told police that Bob Bashara paid him to kill his wife and that Bob Bashara had threatened his wife.

Gentz was previously scheduled to be sentenced late last month but that was pushed back to March 1. He will be sentenced by Judge Vonda Evans.